Rivka Speaks
Ori Ferster
Translated from the Hebrew by Marcela Sulak
Every house has a broken glass.
Every dance has a false note.
We wanted to create and we came out with scabs;
we wanted to give birth and we came out with silence.
Turn off the lights already, we are locked at home,
a couple of drunks and a baby angel.
When we craved sleep we cut off the wings;
When we craved touch we tore off the scabs.
Now they want me to tie my tubes;
they want to silence each sound that’s made.
The womb is dry, the placenta constricts;
I’ve no words left to numb the flesh.
Click HERE to read the Hebrew version of this work in Granta Hebrew
Ori Ferster, 25 years old, lives in Tel Aviv, and is a master’s student studying clinical psychology, and a poet. Her first book, Give Poetry the Blessing, was published in 2018. These days she’s working on her second poetry book, edited by the poet Ana Herman.
Marcela Sulak is the managing editor and a poetry and creative nonfiction editor of The Ilanot Review.